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Arch-Pope Tomisius
His Holiness, the Eternal Arch-Pope Magnus Pontifex High Overzealot, Tomisius Decimus, Redeemer of Souls, Vanquisher of Blasphemy, and Valinneia to the Allfather, is the current Valinneia of the Empire of Sol. Known for his zealotry, persuasion, and innovation, Tomisius commands the Church of the Allfather and serves as the voice of his Allfather's will to humanity. Description The Arch-Pope stands tall, clad in the black, blue, and orange of the Church. His robust armor is adorned with many sacred runes inscribed individually by the Allfather himself, and possesses the greatest augmentations the Empire has ever known. One of his eyes has been replaced by a biomechanical lens that never seems to focus on any single object. His charisma permeates the very space around him, further exemplifying the grandeur of his titles and the Church that he leads. He carries Candlestick with him everywhere, and often leaves his other hand free to pet Torches and effectively wield his signature weapon in times of peril. As he always represents his Church, he holds his posture in an upright, confident style so to impress those who look upon him. He often wears a half-grin on his carefully sculpted face, always alternating between a jovial smirk and a cold, judging stare. Even in his moments of levity, he still maintains an element of awe and wonder to those in his presence. Before Becoming Arch-Pope His Holiness, the Eternal Arch-Pope Magnus Pontifex High Overzealot, Tomisius, Redeemer of Souls, Vanquisher of Blasphemy, and Valinneia to the Allfather, was born 8,783 shines after the 3rd Influx on the Chapel Planet Cor Religio (formerly Q'Yannek). Begotten to a bodyguard of a high ranking official and a renowned alchemist, Tomisius Decimus (as he was known) worked as a mechanic for most of his young adult life. As time went on, however, the young Tomisius could not be appeased any longer by his current workings, and sought greater meaning. Seeing a struggling religious movement, he offered to lend a hand as an advocate for the group, whom of which wished to gather enough support for a church. The group tested him in his speechcraft and persuasiveness to aid the cause, as they wanted nothing less than true talent to save their faith. They very quickly accepted the ambitious new speaker and set him up for what turned out to be a very memorable and shocking sermon (see Orationem Mirabilis). After Orationem Mirabilis, ''Tomisius was never looked upon in the same way again, and was forced to go into hiding. People from every corner of the planet rose up against the government to support the newly introduced Allfather Movement. Tomisius worked as a figurehead of the Q'Yannek Allfather's Worshipper's Cult and thereafter led the movement for an additional 1529 shines. On the 1530th shine of that era, a sudden invasion of Q'Yannek commenced as the Hyperious Guard swarmed down upon the planet, purging the lands of heretical forces and unruly civilians. The overthrowing of the government and churches was swift; only two shines later, Q'Yannek, now renamed Cor Religio, came back under the Allfather's control after many thousands of shines. Tomisius Decimus, with all the remaining Allfather supporters behind him, gave himself up to the control of the Hyperious Guard, offering them hospitality and recuperation despite a war-torn world amongst them. The Guard in turn assisted in the rebuilding of the world, as well as honoring the dead and rewarding the survivors for their faith. Tomisius, however, was confronted by an otherworldly force, the likes of which had never been seen before on his world. He could not quite make out exactly what it was or what its intentions might be, and so decided to pick up a nearby polearm to better defend himself. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness fade and was whisked away by the unknown force. He awoke to find a silhouette of large figure looming over him. Finding himself in a pitch black room, Tomisius attempted to stand, but found that he was unable to move. The figure calmed him and introduced himself as the Valinneia Farranice, and explained that he wanted to prepare Tomisius to succeed him as Valinneia of the Empire (see ''Verbum Iudicio). When he awoke, he found himself clad in strange mechanations, both internal and external, and at the seat of a blurred room. As his enhanced vision sharpened, he stared in awe at a great hall before him, many stories high and hundreds of square feet across. It was a chapel of the grandest size, and a note found on the stand in front of him detailed the Allfather's requests of office. From then on, he has preached the word of the Allfather as vigorously as he had on Q'Yannek. Service as Arch-Pope Tomisius wasted little time enacting the Allfather's will after his selection as Arch-Pope. He began drafting a new heirarchy for the church the following night, and within a shine he had appointed a High Redeemer. He then enacted a series of decrees ordering new chapel worlds to be designated, churchs to be constructed and the adoption of the Edictus Magnus, which established a new church heirarchy. Tomisius solidified acceptance of the changes with the introduction of the Kuuvarnac, a religious festival celebrating the Allfather's grace in allowing humans to govern themselves, whilst still supporting and guiding them to perfection. Tomisius, in a very bold move, made the decision to designate Cor Religio as the new seat of religious operations in the Empire, thus moving it from Earth. This garnered mixed opinions among the citizens of the Empire, with many of them clamoring against the shift, claiming that such an abrupt shift in religious power could cause a schism in the Empire. Others took the Arch-Pope's side, supporting the Arch-Pope's move to strengthen the Allfather's name and will on the outreaching worlds. To comfort these citizens and commemorate the new policy, Tomisius prepared a great festival for the worlds nearest Earth as well as Cor Religio. As the feasts were brought out and speeches were to be made, including some by the Arch-Pope himself, unruly dissenters hurled themselves at the altars in protest, claiming that such a shift could only be an act of heresy. Rather than execute the citizens on the spot, Tomisius knelt to their level and inquired as to their loyalties. All of them replied that they served the Allfather, in all his splendor. The Arch-Pope then asked whether they would follow one of the Allfather's elite chosen without question. All but one of them replied in the affirmative. Tomisius then asked the rest of the crowd what they thought about this movement. As if in a trance, the crowd reportedly executed the dissenters who replied in the affirmative, while leaving the man who had said no alive. Tomisius rose to his feet and proclaimed that faith in truth through the Allfather was the only faith worth having, and to this day no one has openly moved against the shift. With the newly established capital of religion at Cor Religio and his heirarchy established, Tomisius secretly began to mentor those from Cor Religio's who had served in the war alongside him. He brought in masters of combat, elderly scholars, elite technicians, and even authors from across the empire to create the Decorum Templari honor guard. The Decorum Templari were immediately sent out to Cor Religio to "introduce their aura of righteous guilt". The noble yet deadly guard brought a new era of hope and prosperity to Cor Religio, further elevating it to the forefront of the Empire's political and cultural scene. Titles and Stories Every title on Tomisius' name has a story behind it. Tomisius became the Eternal Arch-Pope after the War for Annexation on Cor Religio, in which the planet was secured in the name of the Allfather's Empire of Sol (see above). All stories found here are the experiences of the Arch-Pope's first four decades of service as Head of the Church of the Allfather. Magnus Pontifex: The Construction of the Sacrys Falxissys After the edicts restructuring the Church were issued and he established the Decorum Templari, Tomisius turned to construct what would become the grandest public magna-chapel in the Empire: the Sacracys Falxissys. He chose to model the magna-chapel on Cor Religio after the former seat of religion on Earth in order to combine the sentiments of nostalgia with newer-age grandiose. Despite his best intentions, Tomisius found that many citizens of the Empire were discontent with his decision to base the new chapel on his home planet of Cor Religio, rather than on Earth, as tradition held. Tomisius knew that conflict over the issue was inevitable, and prepared to remedy the situation through clarity and assertive negotiation rather than direct force. It was then that he solidified the populace through the introduction of an Empire-wide festival, the Kuuvarnac, which lightened the political mood and ultimately proved instrumental in dismantling the riot's popularity. With the dissenters pacified, the greatest public magna-chapel the Empire of Sol has ever seen, and his actions earned him the archaic title "Magnus Pontifex". The Sacrys Falxissys now stood tall above the scorched Cor Religian horizon, but it would be what loomed above that sunset that spurred Tomisius to further his planet's status. High Overzealot: The Ruin of G'senvetk and Annexation of Erjav The moon of Erjav had once been colonized aeons ago, and now, Tomisius had plans to once more bring it back under his fold. He set out with a few Decorum Templari, fifteen squads of Truthbearers, and a standard colonization settlement force to take back Erjav from the splinter governments and peoples that had ruled with autonomy and heresy for hundreds of years. Tomisius and his forces took to the surface without major opposition and were able to get a rudimentary base of operations running in merely a week. It was not long afterwards that a ferocious encounter with the native q'errutaw packs left the settlement bloodied and beleaguered, but also gave Tomisius a new friend in Torches, a q'errutaw that would prove himself an invaluable ally on the hostile moon. Seeing that his forces were still recovering from the attack, Tomsius gave a series of reassuring speeches and revelations of their triumph in colonizing Erjav that revitalized the settlers and kept them loyal throughout the long days and nights. Within half a shine, the settlement was reinforced and scouts had finally been sent out in larger numbers. Tomisius finally received word of the heretics' presence a long way off, and immediately ordered his forces to gather for a preliminary assault. Tomisius left half of the force back at the fortress while leading the rest onwards towards the sighted heretic town. When they had gathered behind the spires around the town's clearing, Tomisius stood atop the highest spire, flanked by his Decorum Templari. He accused the native Erjavians of heresy and wrongdoing not only against the people of Cor Religio, but against the people of the Allfather as well. The people of the town rejected this claim, and showed a defaced banner of the Allfather below their empire's standard on their temple. Tomisius wasted little time as he commanded his forces to leave nothing left of the town. He lept down with his guard to start the first battle between Cor Religians and Erjavians in almost 900 shines. Tomisius denounced the heretics with every fiery sweep he and Candlestick made, and the Erjavians perished under the flames of the Allfather's children. Within the hour, nothing but ash remained, as the sturdy temple and homes were disintegrated and their ashes fashioned into the Church's symbol. Tomisius ordered the remaining scouts to send the image to every corner of Erjav, letting all know what fate their rejection of the faith would earn them. Five shines passed, and with each one a major city on Erjav fell to Tomisius. When he had finally fought to the heart of the capital of G'senvetk, he single-handedly defeated the emperor and had his body held aloft on Candlestick and cremated, such that his ashes fell upon the burned banner of his wrongful deity and empire. The images were sent to every corner of the Empire of Sol, proclaiming the Allfather's might and the victory it entails. Tomisius' faith and planning earned him the High Overzealot title from the enslaved people of Erjav that had remained loyal in exile as well as the entire Cor Religian sector. The conquest of Erjav shook the culture of Cor Religio and her nearby neighbors to the core. Vanquisher of Blasphemy: The Reconquest of Aqedunou and the Vanquisher's Holy Cry Under Tomisius' regime thus far, the sector had finally been reunited and began to enter a golden age of literature, religious inspiration, and scientific progress. Tomisius, however, looked to prove to his Allfather that he could bring the same to the rest of the Empire. He left Cor Religio's sector with his Decorum Templari and set off to personally purge a widely known rogue planet called Aqedunou. Aqedunou had been rebellious since its tenuous pacification, and civil wars in the governmental affairs of the planet had been unstable ever since. The Guard, Navy, and even a few of the Sentinels had already been contacted and were en route to the planet, where they would meet Tomisius and forcibly depose the rebels. Upon his arrival to the world, he found the exhausted Empire sympathizers had already been fighting for several months, waiting desperately for the relief force to finally arrive. Tomisius and his allied forces immediately took to the front as the Navy's orbital ordinance rained down upon the bewildered heretics. The rebels crumbled under the combined might of the Allfather's forces, and soon the battle degenerated into a handful of skirmishes. Just as the few remaining rebel groups were crushed, a powerful quake shook the earth, and a robed man appeared seemingly from nowhere. The lone man threw his hands to the sky, and a crimson streak swept across bodies of the slain. The corpses rose once again, and shambled towards their former assailants in an eerie haze. The Sentinels and Truthbearers proclaimed hymns to the Allfather and the Guard gritted their teeth as the Dolls proceeded towards them. Tomisius called a squad of Truthbearers and his Decorum Templari to his side, as he made for the demonic conjuror. As the Sentinels engaged the Dolls, the Guard opened fire on the remaining living troops, and once again Aqedunou's surface was drenched in blood. Tomisius engaged the sorcerer with Sentinels flanking him as the forces of the Church held off the undead. The sorcerer chanted a demonic call, and repelled assault after assault with waves of devastating force. As Torches evaded a blow and bit the invoker's leg in half, thus providing Tomisius an opening to reduce the enfeebled ritualist to ash. Tomisius let forth a gout of flame from Candlestick, uttering the famous line, "By light be purged, heretic!", a cry echoed in the annals and ranks of the Church ever since. With their power source relieved of his life, the empty Dolls returned back to their graves in a collective heap. The rest of Aqedunou fell quickly under the vigorous assault of the Empire, and all remaining governmental figures were removed. While the forces there congratulated themselves in victory, the rest of the Empire listened to their newly christened Vanquisher of Blasphemy's immortal cry with hopeful and triumphant ears. The Aqedunou Reconquest and Tomisius' heroics were celebrated for an entire shine on Cor Religio, with many feasts in their Arch-Pope's name and honor. For many shines afterwards, Tomisius remained on Cor Religio and its surrounding planets in order to ensure the construction of many other holy sites and monuments in the name of the Allfather, as well as the forces that aided him on Aqedunou. Redeemer of Souls: The Fall of Oabuul and Glory's Pyre He proceeded afterwards to assist the Warmaster in his struggle against the Hell Spawn at the Hell Gate. With many of his Decorum Templari and three additional Collections of Truthbearers, the Valinneia made off into the First Sector. His presence inspired the troops that had held the line against several particularly devastating demon assaults, and his own forces thickened the line as Warmaster Ivaan began planning the first in a series of counterattacks to recover the lost ground. Upon that day, the order was given to move forward and wrest control from the demon Oabuul's stronghold. The combined Guard and Truthbearer squad, overseen by the Warmaster and Valinneia jointly, staged a massive surge backed by heavy covering fire and hardlight clearing waves. The forces struggled against the aggressive demonic defenders, but inch by inch the line surged back towards Oabuul and his elite guard until they were left with little choice but to fight. The brutal honor guard lit the fray ablaze with their savage strikes and mystic powers, and many faithful of the Empire met a gruesome, horrific end as the terrors of Hell swept through the staggered but unbroken ranks. Squad after squad fell to Oabuul's finest soldiers, but none retreated or even gave a hint of fear. For they knew that it was their Allfather that they perished, and it would be his Voice and Lightning that would save their families and brothers in arms. The Warmaster, flanked by his elite veterans that had seen thousands of battles and toppled even more thousands of foes serving as his personal detail, leaped across the ramparts to avenge the slain combatants. The great servants of the demon lord accommodated them in turn, and the forces clashed with renewed vigor. Each slash and gut of weapons brought screams anew, and the very earth seemed to weep with each injury. The pitched match carried on for what seemed like days, with neither side showing signs of fatigue. While the Guard and demons clashed, the Sentinels and Tomisius' own forces came from the flank to confront Oabuul directly. This proved no easy task, as the elite guard were forced to break off in order to intercept them. Interactions with OthersCategory:The CouncilCategory:Church of the Allfather The Council Queen Alianora Daylietic: Tomisius has a deeper appreciation for the Head of Agriculture than he lets on; the Valinneia looks past the pretentious and somewhat pagan attitude of Alianora and more at the care and value she places in her own people. The shared prospective goals for a cultured and joyous empire rings true between them, at least through Tomisius' eyes. Karis Pádraigín: There is not much that Tomisius argues for or against with Karis, and he has little care to know more about her accomplishments. Her influence in the spread of information and the Valinneia's constant additions to the vital holy texts are the only thing keeping them in contact with one another. Titus Czarneski: The Arch-Pope admires the bravery and charisma that radiates from Titus, and this makes communication and collaboration between the two easy and agreeable for them. Despite this connection, the loose judgement and plans of the Grand Admiral slightly sour Tomisius' opinion of him. Warmaster Ivaan: Tomisius and Ivaan share many great tales with one another, and each of them enthuses the Arch-Pope more than the last. While a strong friendship brings them together, their negotiations and council alliances occasionally oppose for the needs and wants of their organizations. Lady Lucia: Since the split between the Sentinels and the Church, the political relationship between Arch-Pope and Arch-Angel has been inconsistent. Tomisius only sparingly enjoys Lucia's presence and methods, but the two ultimately pursue very similar goals at the council table, and that softens any hardships he faces when confronting her. Dante Maccina di Conoscenza: Very little brings more ire to Tomisius than Dante. Heated debates, intense disagreements, and differences in personal values separate the Valinneia in almost every way from the Head of Industry. Tomisius sees Dante as a misguided fool for attempting to place the wants of machines over the needs of the people, and agreement between the two is almost exclusively forced. The Blood Raven: Tomisius does not enjoy Demos' presence in the council, seeing his opinions and expertise as "irrelevant and haphazard". Only his dedication is seen in a positive light, with his other accomplishments proving nothing to the Arch-Pope but his bloodthirsty inexperience in governing and competence. Thaddeus Rabenek: Because the Arch-Pope does not place trust in taking prisoners during battles and does not readily forgive heresy, he sees Thaddeus as a good individual with little to offer. While Tomisius can often appreciate Thaddeus' disgust of demons and heretics, he is often disgusted himself with the thought of allowing the Empire's opposition to be tolerated and nurtured instead of dealt with immediately. The Church of the Allfather High Redeemer Greatwill: Tomisius' appointed head of festivals and peaceful events is among his most trusted friends. While he sees Greatwill as a great man, he often wonders why he chose to accept his offer instead of joining the information or business sectors, where his organizational skills would have lasted a thousand lifetimes. Daeokia, Gloriam Manibus: The Glory's Reach and the Valinneia have to be in perfect coordination, and Tomisius has it in spades with Daeokia. Her fanaticism is complemented and tempered by his own, and her combat experience and tactical genius is one the Arch-Pope admires and appreciates with every victory. Xurrejh, Prism of Salvation: As one of Tomisius' fondest friends, Xurrejh is trusted more than any of the Decorum Templari with the secrets of the Church, many of which only Tomisius otherwise knows. As a mystic, he is also envied by the Arch-Pope in the sheer stability and calm he seems to have when around nature in all its primeval glory.